Mindful of the legislative mandates, manager Doshier and his staff, nevertheless, take advantage of every opportunity to make the refuge more hospitable for both wildlife and refuge visitors. Boat ramps are being improved and consolidated from the previous dozen down to just four. Roads will be torn out of idle industrial land that will then be reforested. Defragmentation of woodlands and forest management are top priorities. Mixed hardwoods are being planted to fill in tree gaps and others are encouraged to grow through natural succession by selective thinning of the 3,500 acres of pines that were used as a quick but non-native forest cover some decades ago. Pines in the wilderness area are killed by injection due to the ban on mechanical equipment. The public marina, taken over from a concessionaire and now operated by the refuge, is getting an extensive facelift. The future of the private yacht club is in question and must be considered when its permit comes up for renewal. A boat sales marina is scheduled to be closed when its current contract expires.

Refuge Manager Doshier says that development of a better automobile tour route and more shoreline stabilization and improved grassland management are on his agenda. Much of his progress, however, is restrained by money. That is why he entered an arrangement with an equipment operators union that performs construction services free while providing training for union members. A half million dollars comes back to the refuge from industry rents, but that is offset by budget reductions, says Doshier. Although tricky to enforce, the recreation fee demonstration is beginning to provide some welcome income for new public use facilities like a recently completed pier and boat launch on Crab Orchard Lake. Because several public roads pass through the refuge and there is no single refuge entry point, visitor permits must be purchased in advance at the refuge visitor center on State Route 148. Signs throughout the refuge and at refuge facilities warn that public entry requires the payment of the entrance fee.

More than 5,000 acres of cropland are farmed by local cooperative sharecroppers to provide browse for geese, but, according to refuge biologist John Mayberry, some fields may be retired, particularly those not used by geese, and planted with native trees. He says that pre-settlement data indicate that most of the area was forested. Mayberry will monitor reforested sites to determine changes in songbird use. Grazing of some 2,000 acres is also a management practice used to provide green browse although more emphasis is being given to haying as an alternative grassland maintenance practice. Mayberry is also experimenting with some of the 150 bunkers on the refuge as bat enclosures. Little brown bats have so far been attracted with the wooden structures he has placed within the interiors of several of the concrete structures. Bare concrete alone did not suit the flying mammals.

The volunteer program involves 160 people who contribute over 15,000 hours in a year. Maxine Brown, a naturalist and mentor in local schools, has developed a touch screen display that gives refuge information to visitors, including refuge history and maps, schedules of current refuge events, and where to go to see birds and flowers. An extensive schedule of public events includes bald eagle watch tours, wildflower walks, and a Fall Discovery Auto Tour through the closed area. More than 3,000 local school children visit the refuge each year to attend programs given by refuge staff and volunteers.

	Related Articles Cypress Creek NWR - Crab Orchard's sister southern Illinois refuge Best of Times - Different periods call for different solutions: story behind the effort to create Cypress Creek and Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuges.

Coming up on Doshier's agenda is preparation of the refuge comprehensive conservation plan, a master plan that will set the stage for refuge management over the next 10 to 15 years. In the planning process that will begin later in 1999, habitat improvements will be featured and publicly reviewed including continued forest defragmentation and pine plantation conversion and realignment of the farming program to fit current waterfowl requirements, a proposed habitat restoration program that is already receiving scrutiny from neighboring goose clubs. Doshier will also propose road abandonments as well as major road improvements, taking advantage of the recently approved highway funds made available for refuges.

Clearly, Doshier and his staff are tilting toward greater and more intensive wildlife management, but ever mindful of the statutory confines they must live with. Only time stands in the way of one other outstanding item on Doshier's wish list. He and his wife are determined to walk the entire 240 miles of refuge boundary. They have only two miles to go.

Move on to Cypress Creek

Return to Top

---

From Refuge Reporter, an independent quarterly journal to increase recognition and support of the National Wildlife Refuge system.